Hey all.....kind of a noob question but back when I first got into RC you had your choice of 380 or 540 motors. Now there are so many choices it seems a bit overwhelming. Now, understand that I am running a Tamiya TA03F chassis so replacement gears are not so plentifull. I am using a Duratrax Inteli-speed Auto Sport ESC W/Reverse that is rated down to 18 turns. The motor I have is a vintage (copperhead?) 27x1. I have not counted the spur gear teath but based on everything else that was on the car I have to assume it is stock Tamiya. Based on everything I have read online, more turns=more torque and fewer turns=more top end speed. Is that correct? My goal is to get a bit more speed out of the car while minimizing (read eliminating)damage to the ESC and drivetrain. I have found some motors -Novac Terra Claw (20T) and Team EPIC speed gems (19x2T) but I'm not sure the vintage drivetrain will handle it. Any thoughts? I know the big thing now is brushless but I have heard alot of stories about wiping out plastic gears while trying out different motors. Besides, I don't want to switch to LiPo batteries just yet and LiFe batteries are WAY out of my budget as are brushless motor/ESC combos. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Welp no one has answered you as of yet so I will help ya out. Here's what I would do.

I would go get a DTX 17.5 brushless motor(their made by Duratrac, yes they are good low cost motor I have owned a few) and a Mamba max pro ESC. You can use your NiMh battery's with that ESC, but you will have to program it for it. I can setup a program file for it and email it to you and you can have you LHS load the file onto the ESC. Now what will this do for me you might be asking. Okay here it is 1) this will increase your speed and power out put a lot, with out having to worry about your gears 2) it will give you much longer run times 3) you will have very very low heat on the motor. Also should you purchase a newer buggy designed for brushless system you can always transfer that setup into a newer buggy and reprogram the ESC for it. 4) 17.5 motor are what they use at most RC races if you decide to go do that then you'd be all set for that also. Hope that help you out some, should you have anymore questions hit me up always willing to help someone out.